~ History of the Newsboys Strike of 1899, through actual newspaper articles from the time.

Historic Video of New York City

There are a lot of snippets of old film clips taken in New York City around the turn of the twentieth century. Many pop up on YouTube. Yestervid assembled a selection ranging from 1905 back to 1896, and included notes about locations shown and a map of where the clip was filmed.

Of note to “Newsies” fans is the clip shown at 5:59 to 6:08, of a fight between two newsboys. It’s actually a short snippet from the end of a film showing newspapers being delivered to a distribution point by a World van, possibly in Union Square. The Library of Congress notes that it was recorded on May 1, 1899.

Also of note in the Yestervid video is the clip of Sheepshead Bay Racetrack, shown at 6:49 to 7:05.

The clip following that, from 7:05 to 7:17, shows a newsboy wandering in front of the camera.